Donovan sets record in victory Massachusetts golfer edges Goodhue by one

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BANGOR – Playing golf professionally is expensive.

Traveling by plane sometimes, cars a lot; plus food, motels, and entry fees create a drain on the pocketbook that is helped immeasurably by one thing – winning.

For Matt Donovan of Pittsfield, Mass., his first win has been four years coming. But it finally did Saturday in the $50,000 Greater Bangor Open Golf Tournament.

In his fourth year as a pro, Donovan blazed his way around Bangor Municipal Golf Course in record fashion to pull out a one-stroke victory over Justin Goodhue of Glastonbury, Conn., and claim the $11,000 winner’s check.

“I’ve been close. I’ve been second six times,” said Donovan, who played on the Canadian PGA Tour last year. “A lot of emotion runs through you. Today I was fortunate enough to get it done.”

Donovan fired a 6-under-par 63 Saturday for a three-day record of 198, a stroke better than Gus Ulrich of Garner, N.C., in 1993 and Billy Downes of Enfield, Conn., in 2000.

Goodhue, who took the lead early and held it until the closing holes, shot a 67 Saturday for his 199.

Second-round leader Sean O’Hair of Aston, Pa., Tom Johnson of East Greenwich, R.I., Shannon Sykora of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Kyle Gallo of Kensington, Conn., tied for third at 202. O’Hair finished with a 71, Johnson a 69, Sykora a 66, and Gallo a 64.

First-round leader Rick Karbowski of Worcester, Mass., Eric Egloff of Rockville, Md., Rich Parker of Lebanon, N.H., and Todd Westfall of Clendenin, W.Va., tied for seventh at 203.

Joe Finemore of Bangor posted a 70 and earned low amateur honors at 214.

Goodhue earned a consolation prize, in addition to the $6,000 for finishing second, when he won the Chrysler Q-school Shootout, a skills competition in which the winner has his approximately $4,200 entry fee to this fall’s PGA Tour National Qualifying Tournament paid for.

Goodhue was consoled by his Shootout win.

“That was more nerve-wracking than I thought,” said Goodhue.

The first-place check will go a long way toward paying for Q-school for Donovan, but it was by no means an easy victory for the 26-year-old making his third trip to the GBO, which had major sponsors Golf Country and Town and Country Realtors this year.

“I didn’t think they were coming back to me,” said Donovan of the leaders. Donovan started the day four strokes behind O’Hair and three behind Karbowski and Goodhue.

By the turn, he was still three strokes behind Goodhue, the new leader.

“The front was OK,” said Donovan of his 33. “It was a solid nine, but I knew coming in there were a lot of birdies out there.”

He gained a stroke with a birdie on No. 2 (their 11th as the nines were reversed for the final round), then made a big move with an eagle-3 on No. 4, the only par 5.

“I was about 15 feet [away], just beyond the pin [on the fringe],” said Donovan. “I just tried to get it down there close and the hole got in the way of it.”

Goodhue was a stroke up on Donovan as he stood on the eighth tee. Donovan, playing two groups ahead of Goodhue, was putting out on No. 9.

“It was a disappointing finish,” said Goodhue, who tried to hit a 3-wood to the right of a stand of trees, lift it over the trees, and draw it back into the eighth fairway.

Instead, his tee shot hit a tree in the rough on 18 and ricocheted down the tree line he’d been trying to hit over.

“I heard someone hit the tree, but I didn’t know who it was,” said Donovan, who was getting ready to hit a 12-foot birdie putt.

“It was on line and tracked into the center of the cup,” said Donovan, who shot a 5-under-par 30 on his second nine.

Goodhue bogeyed No. 8 and his attempt at birdie on the last hole, about a 65-foot putt from the front collar toward the pin in the back right corner, missed by inches on the left.

O’Hair made one birdie and three bogeys on the first nine to fall two behind. He would get no closer as putts lipped out or just missed.

“I just didn’t play good,” said O’Hair. “It wasn’t just the putter. … I think I’m putting too much pressure on the putter.”

Karbowski made a couple of early bogeys and never got back on track.

Donovan spent the winter caddying at Seminole Club in Florida to cover expenses, then came out to play in late May.

“I think it helped because I came back energized,” said Donovan.